Wilders challenges Dutch election results using ‘Trumpian’ tactics
in the media
Geert Wilders is sowing doubt by challenging the election results, which, according to critics, is reminiscent of Donald Trump's tactics. Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional Law, calls it a 'Trumpian smear campaign' in ‘Nederlands Dagblad’ newspaper.
Wilders, PVV party leader, has suggested that the voting and counting procedures during the recent election were unreliable by insinuating that 'containers full of votes' had disappeared in the town Zaanstad. His aim is to undermine the credibility of the election results, creating fertile ground for stirring up politically motivated violence.
'What Wilders is doing is extremely harmful. This is how you undermine trust in the institutions that organise elections and make democracy look suspicious.' This is a tactic demonstrated before by populist leaders abroad. 'As a result, people may feel that their vote doesn’t count and that they have to make their point in other ways,' says Voermans.
The fact that the leader of one of the largest political parties openly doubts the election results is unprecedented in the Netherlands, according to Voermans. In 2021, Thierry Baudet, former leader of the right-wing party Forum for Democracy (FvD), submitted parliamentary questions about the independence of the organisation that monitors the security of election software. However, after the procedure was explained to him, he took it no further.
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Read the full article in the Nederlands Dagblad (€, in Dutch)